Essay on Orgon's Incompetence in "Tartuffe"

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Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere's Tartuffe is an epic play of hypocrisy, betrayal, and the tale of a foolish mind. Moliere's choice of protagonist in this play happens to be the most blatantly ignorant character in the play. Orgon is naive to the villain Tartuffe's hypocritical ways, makes a complete dunce of himself by uplifting Tartuffe as holy, and failing to pick up the abundance of clues of Tartuffe being fake. Analyzing this character is rather interesting and at the same time frustrating to read of someone so ignorant that they fail to see the wolf hiding under the sheep clothing. A fool is a fool unless they open their eyes to see the truth, and it took Orgon the majority of the play to realize the truth.

Orgon's family and friends believed by now that there was no hope in helping him realize the deceit that was going on right under his nose. Orgon decided that giving his daughter to Tartuffe would be the ultimate gift, and hearing this Elmire decided that it best to try to reason with Tartuffe to make Orgon keep his promise to Valere with his daughters hand in marriage. Orgon's character is drawn as that of being naive and ignorant, and displays this when he refers to Tartuffe as blood and tells the story of Tartuffe when he first met him with him asking for money, and then saying he only needed a little not the large amount Orgon gave. " nd how austere he is! Why, he can detect a moral sin where you would least suspect."(Moliere 26). In Elmire and Tartuffe's meeting Damis hiding behind the curtains hears the foul confessions of the holy one's love for Elmire and decides to come our and catch him. Damis tells Orgon of Tartuffe's confessions and the manipulator that Tartuffe is convinces Orgon that is just a plot against him. Orgon as angry as he is makes a stupid mistake "This very day, I'll give to you alone Clear deed and title to everything I own"(Moliere 48). This mistake alone cost Orgon his son, and his family's support. Elmire's plan to call out Tartuffe one more time in front of Orgon to show there was a wolf among them worked, and Tartuffe showed his true colors for Elmire by asking for acts of true caring if her feelings were true for him made

Cleante: A True Enlightenment Man
Moliere’s Tartuffe is from 17th century France, during the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason. The type of Enlightenment in the western culture differed from the Eastern Asian philosophies. Enlightenment thinkers put faith in reason and analysis in the Western culture. Tartuffe was born to a culture that valued the age of rationalism, or practical thinking, which had gradually departed from religious beginnings. Furthermore, people in Paris were interested…

Tartuffe is one of the most famous comedies written by the French playwright Molière. The play tells the story of a wealthy Frenchman named Orgon who takes in Tartuffe, a man who presents himself to be religious and passionate but actually turns out to be a hypocrite. Despite his family’s warnings, Orgon completely turns his back on his family in order to protect Tartuffe, who betrays him. During that time the play was first written and performed, many people, along with King Louis XIV himself, enjoyed…

that they face.
Naivety
Tartuffe’s Orgon is probably one of the most naïve characters to have graced a play. His never-ending belief that Tartuffe is some God among men is ridiculous. Orgon believes that Tartuffe is actually, “no loftier soul since time began” (Moliere 114). His son did not even have a chance to reverse the way he felt about Tartuffe. After pleading Orgon to come to his senses, Orgon immediately shuns and scours Damis for trying to falsify Tartuffe’s divine nature. He responds…

follies and vices in society. In Molière’s Tartuffe and Jonathan Swift’s essay A Modest Proposal, that both obliquely criticize and burlesque human behavior and the perception we have towards others. Through a satirist delivery, these authors offer an insight past the seemingly obvious, and aim to improve this faulty custom of one sidedness rather than eliminating it. Although these pair of literary pieces illustrates satire, it is Molière’s play Tartuffe that generates a more effective delivery.…

surrounding the period in which Tartuffe was written in, the 17th Century is remembered as being a time of extreme power for the French Monarchy. King Louis XIV and Cardinal Richelieu transformed France’s feudal monarchy to an absolute monarchy. What must also be noted about this time is the fact that the Catholic Church and Politicians had a great deal of power over authors and playwrights. In this time of social and religious persecution, Molière created Tartuffe , a comedy dealing with hypocrisy…

Theme of Deception in Tartuffe
Throughout time, man has used many forms of deception to get what they want. Moliere’s play Tartuffe is a classical story about deception and how a “mask” is used to hide someone’s true intentions. Moliere applies the idea of a mask and a theme of deception to exploit the power struggles within a traditional household. The character Tartuffe employs deception so he can achieve social and economical standings while Elmire, Mariane, and Dorine use deception to defy…

Mightier Than The Sword
"The most forceful lines of a serious moral statement are usually less powerful than those of satire, and nothing will reform most men better than the depiction of their faults"(Moliere's preface to Tartuffe). Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere's play Tartuffe caused much controversy on its release upon the reigning king of France at that time. This comedy of greed, lust, deceit, hypocrisy, devotion, ardor, and truth had to be rewritten three times before the clergy approved it…

Self-Image in Tartuffe
In Tartuffe, Orgon illustrates what happens when we allow society's image of our lives to dictate our own self-image. In the 1600's a society existed in which social conventions held individuals more responsible for their public images than for their private lives. Individuals were deemed worthy or unworthy by the image they projected in their public lives. Orgon had shown himself to be worthy to society by having supported the kingdom in a civil war, "By these…

Moliere's Tartuffe and the Religious Hypocrisy
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Justice and Injustice in Tartuffe
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According to Lacan, a male child experiences conflict with his father…